Sunday, November 28, 2010

Faith Integration Helps Us Ask: The Search for Meaning (Part II)


Ten question about the present (Continued)

6.  Which five prople are the most positive and uplifting in our life? Why?
7.  Which five people are the most draining, demanding , and difficult for you to deal with?
8.  If you died today, who do you thick would attend your funeral?
9.  How many times a day do you pray?
What kinds of thoughts come to mind when you take the time for reflecttion or meditation? Fears? Hopes? Blessings?

Ten questions about the future

1.  What do you think your life will be like twenty years from now?
2.  Try to imagine your thoughts on your deathbed. What will you widh you;d done differently? What will you feel you've done well?
3.  What is your most recurring daydream?
4.  What are your five greatest fears about the future?
5.  What are your five greatest hopes for the future?
6.  Do you feel you have to face the future alone, or do you believe God will walk though it with you?
7.  Whatt is the one thing you'd like to change in order to make the future better?
8.  Which five people's friendship or love would you want to know you'd have for the rest of your life?
9.  Have you ever committed your future into the care of God?
10. What are the ten questions you would like to ask Him?

Faith Integration Helps Us Ask: The Search for Meaning


Ten questions about the past
  1. What are the ten most importatn lessons you've learned in your life?
  2. Who are ten key people whose friendships have run like a thread through your life? What do they mean to you?
  3. Can you discern an invisible hand at work hehind the scenes of your life? In what circumstances have you most seen providential guidance or intervention?
  4. What are the ten worst things that have ever happened to you? What good came out of them?
  5. Which of your personal traits have served you the best in your life?
  6. Which traits have caused you the most problems?
  7. Whatt was the best time of your life? Why?
  8. What have been your ten most significant accomplishments?
  9. Have you ever had a prayer answered? What happened?
  10. If you had it all to do again, what would you do differently?
Ten questions about the present
  1. What are the three problems or concerns that worry you the most?
  2. For what ten things are you the most grateful?
  3. If you could change anything in your life today, what would it be? Why haven't you changed it?
  4. How would you describe your present physical health conditional?
  5. What smalll pleasures do you look forward to on a daily basis?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Faith Integration Teaches Us: Seek Wisdom

Wisdom to live by:

  • The words of wisdom: "The proverbs of Solomon...For attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight" (Proverbs 1:1-2)
  • The purpose of wisdom: "for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair." (Proverbs 1:3)
  • the source of wisdom: "Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance." (Proverbs 1:5)
Wisdom learned:

Lazarus Long - All men are created equal
Mark Twain - Faith is believing what you know ain't so
BenFranklin - A Lie stands on one leg, the truth stands on two
Anonymous - Don't spit in the wind
Albert Eistein - Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about   the former.
Plato - Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Eleanor Roosevelt - the only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.
Anna Freud - i was always looking outside myself for strenght and confidence, but it comes from within, It is there all the time.
Sandra Day O' Connor - I don't know that there are any shortcuts to doing a good job

Faith Integration Subject Matter: Devotional - Qualities of a Winner


Qualities of a winner:

  • Honesty - A winner finds a way to be honest and adds others who are honest
  • Loyalty - Loyal people stick aroung through thick and thin
  • Positive attitiude - the ingredient that often allows the near impossible to be achieved
  • Effectiveness - efficient people save money; effective pwople know how to make it with limited resources
  • Problem-Solving Skills - If you find peeople who can solve problems, latch onto them and don't let them go
  • Self-Discipline - Self discipline is the ability to delay gratification
  • Sense of Humor - A winner is always healthy enough to laugh at himself or herself and can spread that good humor to everyone else
  • Perseverance - People who ggive something a little attention and then wimp out and quit before they have a chance to wim
  • Team Player - Winners know that in the counsel of many, there is much greater potential to problem solve
  • Unwillingness to Make  Excuses - A winner would never stoop so low as to come up with a lame excuse when there just might be another way to approach the problem

Faith Integration Teaches Us: One Person Can Make a Difference


  • Difference-Makers in History
          - Martin Luther - sparked the Protestant revolution
          - Leonardo da Vinci - opened the age of the Renaissance
          - William Shakespeare - playwright of the ages
          - John Bunyan - guidedthe progress of millions of pilgrams
          - Benjamin Franklin - provided your bifocals
          - Eli Whitney - gave us the cottin gin
          - Thomas Edison - brought us the electric light
  • Difference-Makers in the Bible
          - Noah - because of his faithfulness to God we are here today
          - Abraham - through whom all the families of the earth are blessed
          - Moses - deliverer of the Hebrews
          - Joshua, the judges, David, Soloman, the prophets and apostles
          - Jesus Christ - made difference makers of scores of others
  • How about you?

Integrated Faith Topics Using Subject Matter Examination: The Meaning Of Winning With Character

Achieve a Positive Mindset Through:

  • Having Self-Confidence
          - Realisitically appraising your strengths and then utilizing them
  • Living with your Means
          - Using delayed gratification to ensure that your aren't spending more than you make
  • Getting Along Well with Ohters
          - Realizing that you can never win an argument
  • Having a Posiottive Helpful Attitide
          - Being deelighted to see someone else get ahead
  • Being Considerate of Others
          - Putting yourself in perspective and focus on other people's needs
  • Practicing patience
          - Believing that God knows more about what's going on then you do
  • Having a hunger for learning
          - having a desire to know more, do more, and bee more
  • Being Reliable
          - Willing to make painful commitments and then keep them
  • Loving other People
          - Be careful to love people and use things

Finding new Balance: Approach To Education Grounded In Christian World And Life View

  • The three-legged stool
           - If we focus too much on the meaningful side of life, we'll have no money, and
             we'll never accomplish the mission.
           - If we focus too much on the mission, we'll lose sight of our financial
             responsibilities, and we'll forget to enjoy daily pleasures.
           - If we fiocus too much on money or never learn to acquire and manage money
             we'll find ourselves selling out the mission and living in a world without wonder
             or meaning.
  • The five dimensions of life
           - Physical: Taking care of our bodies is more than a good idea; it's the first step
             toward any kind of success.
           - Mental: Our thought lives are the soil from which our actions sprout, grow,
             and bear fruit - for better or for worse.
           - Emotional: Witht the right attitide, we can accomplish more than we ever
             dreamed. With the wrong attitude, we will ignore more opportunities than
             most people ever get.
           - Social: When we surround ourselves with trusted friends we benefit ourselves,
             and we give of ourselves to those we care about.
           - Spiritual: A relationship with God is the number one guarantee that once you
             make it into the winner's circle, you will enjoy being there.

The Employee Nobody Wants: Examination Of Subject Matter From A Faith Perspective


  • Scripture: Proverbs 6:6-11
           "Go to the and you sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief,
           officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the
           harvest, how long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your
           sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and your
           proverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man."
  • The employee nobody wants:
           - Does not begin things (Proverbs 6:9)
             "how ling will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?"

           - Does not finish things (Proverbs 12:27)
             "A slothful man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is
             diligence"

           - Does make excuses (Proverbs 22:13)
             "The sluggard says, 'there is a lion outside; I shall be slain in the streets"

           - Does reap what they sow (Proverbs 6:11)
             "your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man"

Monday, November 1, 2010

Faith Integration Teachings: Evaluating Your Relationship with Money



Some serious soul-searching is in order if you are worried about your relationship with money. So, Faith Integration in learning has got you covered!!!
  • (Eccl. 5:10-11) "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?"
  • Do you think, If I only had an extra few thousand dollars my problems would all be solved?
          -if so, you're wrong.
  • Rethink your attitudes toward money
          -What it's for, what it can do, and why you want it and need it.
  • What is impoprtant to you?
          -make a random wish list of things you'd like to have.
  • Now go back and assign a ranking to these wishes 
          -make sure you know the difference between those that are essential, those that are important, and
           those that are on the frivolous side.
  • Evaluate the cost of each item in terms of time, energy, and money.
          -Everything you have or achieve will cost you a combination of these three elements.
  • Decide the time frame in which you plan to reach each goal.
          -Give your goals deadlines.
  • Time and money must interact responsibly if you are to maintain your balance.
Christians need to be healthy in their relationship with money in order to handle it with integrity. If you struggle financially, it is often because you were taught that you are supposed to struggle.
Even a financial breakthrough will not end the stress of the struggle, because the notion of financial struggle is lodged in your beliefs and affects your emotions and behavior. Like Proverbs says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Hicks, 2009)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Benefits of Purpose In Faith Integrated Schools


Benefits of Purpose

I.   Scripture
  • (I Corinthians 9:24) - " Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one getsthe prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
  • (Hebrews 12:1) - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
II.   Life Investment Strategy

- Begin with specific goals. for each role define one/more goals by:
  • Clearly defining the goal
  • describing the benefits to be accrued if the goal is achieved
  • List obstacles that must be overcome
  • Listing the skills/knowledge that mustt be acquired
  • Listing thee individuals/groups that will be involved Developing a detailed plan of action
  • Setting a realistc completion date
-Develop a flexible focus
-Accept the idea of deferred satisfaction

SERVANT LEADERS: MISSION AND PRINCIPLES


DBU Mission Statement

The purpose of Dallas Baptist University is to prrovide Christ-centered higher education in the arts, sciences, and professional studies at both the  undergraduate and graduate levels to traditional age and acult students in order to prodduce servant leaders who have the abitlity to integrate faith and learning their respective callings.

Class Mission Statement

Provide Christ-centered training in Computer Science to produce servant leaders who have the ability to integrate faith and learning in a field dominated by agnostics and atheists.

Principles That Every Leader Should Know

Keep Communication Open
  • Beware of: insensitivity, preoccupation, panic, indecisiveeness, impatience, insecurity, anger, fear of confrontation.
Know Where You are, Where You Are Going, and Why
  • Be the one who always has a way of figuring out what the next few steps are, especially when all is not going exactly according to plan.
Cointinue to Evaluate What You Are Up Against
  • Make sure your diagnosis is accurate.
  • Then begin the problem-solving process a step at a time.
When a Mistake is Made. Get Over It and Get On with It.
  • The biggest issue isn't problems, failures, or setbacks.
  • The biggest issue is whatt you do about it.
Recognize That Who you are Is Less Important Than What You Are Willing to Do
  • The most important thing about getting somewhere with your God, your life, your job, and your family is to start where your are.

        

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The "Devil"


Ephesians 6:10-12
"Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggles are not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

How does he attack
  • As a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8)
  • As a friend (Genesis 3: 4-5)
  • As an angel of light (Genesis 3:1-3)
When does he attack
  • When you are afflicted and depressed (Job 1-2)
  • When you have one a great victory (Matthew 16:15)
  • When you are doing nothing (2 Samual 11)
How do we counter-attack this in faith integrated schools
  • Prayer Partners - confidential and private relationship with another student to keep them in prayer for the semester
  • Prayer requests
  • Devotionals dicussing topics on stress, depression, knowing and doing God's will, and the purpose of life.
Why partner?
  • Keeps your partner in check buy avoiding the 7 sins
  • Get people praying for each other

Sunday, September 12, 2010

S-T-R-E-S-S


In my last blog I listed 7 main faith integration topics without subcategories. The subcategories will be used to expand the list and show how it relates to scripture in all my future blogs.

Today's subcategory is S-T-R-E-S-S. Stress expands the topics of subject matter from a faith perspective, and Christian world view and life view. Below is what I found in scripture about stress, which every student deals with on a daily basis, and why it should be part of faith integration.

Stress was promised (James 1:2)
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials"

Stress has a purpose (james 1:3-4)
"knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurnace and let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Stress leads to prayer (James 1:5-6)
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind."

Monday, August 30, 2010

Integrating Faith and Learning in Higher Education



As a student at Dallas Baptist University, I was told to create a blog and follow it up with 14 posts related to faith integration topics. I wanted to start of with Proverbs, a simple quote, and a list of faith integration topics. 
Proverbs says that the "fear of the Lord" - honor and respect for the Lord - is wisdom and it is the beginning of knowledge.


. . . Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom . . . (NASB) Job 28:28

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction. (NASB) Prov. 1:7

The fear of the LORD prolongs life,
But the years of the wicked will be shortened. (NASB) Prov. 10:27

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
That one may avoid the snares of death.(NASB) Prov. 14:27

The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD
Are riches, honor and life. (NASB) Prov. 22:4

Thus we want to love God with heart, soul and our minds as well. Learning to think Christianly impacts our homes, our businesses, our health care agencies, our schools, our social structures, our recreation, and, yes, our churches too. For to love God with our minds means that we think differently about the way we live and love, the way we worship and serve, the way we work to earn our livelihood, the way we learn and teach, and to accept wisdom and instruction that is offered. It keeps us all in check with Morality and Discipline.


A Christian education must primarily teach people to be able to think in Christian categories/spheres:
  • Strong cultural ties with sponsoring denomination/constituency
  • Faculty and students conscious of denominational/constituency ties
  • Board has strong tie to denomination/constituency
  • Provides opportunity for examination of subject matter from a faith perspective
  • Grace-filled context for education
  • Approach to education grounded in Christian world and life view
  • Education as a learning community—one sphere characterized by the integration of faith and learning and faith and living.